Celtic's pathetic away record in Champions League group matches makes a mockery of George Santayana's famous dictum that 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it'. Those involved in the Parkhead club's history in the competition cannot forget it, but consistently prove themselves incapable of avoiding its repetition.

The visit to Aalborg on Tuesday for the penultimate match in Group E will be Celtic's 18th attempt at an away win in the Champions League, the previous 17 having yielded defeats all but once. Since the ignominy embraces six campaigns stretching back to 2001, it seems clear that what was once a mere millstone is becoming a family curse.

Celtic's performance at Villareal in their second group game, when they lost to a Marcos Senna goal, was, however, encouraging enough for Strachan to describe it as 'the best we've given in my time in these circumstances, the most comfortable I've felt at any away match in the Champions League'.

The Celtic manager would be content to repeat in Denmark the formation and the manner in which his team played in the Madrigal, but regrets that it will not be possible. 'First of all, we are unlikely to have the same personnel available,' he said. 'But, on top of that, Aalborg play a bit differently from the Spaniards.

'Actually, they are now playing a bit differently from the way they did in the opening match against us in Glasgow, when we had to settle for a scoreless draw. I was watching a video of their match last week, and they now playing a bit narrower in midfield, more compact.

'But we've had players out injured and, although one or two are back, like Sammy [Georgios Samaras], it could take a while for them to get back to peak, so we'll keep an eye on that.'

If there is a difference in Aalborg's playing style, it will almost certainly be as a result of their change of coach in mid-season, Bruce Rioch - he was in charge for the match at Celtic Park - having been sacked and replaced by Allan Kuhn. The switch has, though, done little to improve their domestic fortunes - they are still eighth in the Danish league.

None of this will make Strachan any less wary. He knows that Aalborg scored three times against Villarreal in Spain, losing 6-3 in a bizarre match, and twice came from behind to secure a 2-2 draw with the Spaniards at home. Celtic have scored once in four outings, in the 1-1 draw with Manchester United 18 days ago.

'It would take resilience and spirit to come from behind twice against Villarreal,' said Strachan. 'But that's a given in this tournament. Any team that's in the Champions League has had to plough through a lot to get there.

'They've had to work all the way through winning their own championship and, in Aalborg's case, the same again to come through the qualifying rounds. So they'll be mentally strong and we know they are physically strong with a lot of height. That's something we'll have to pay attention to, especially at set pieces.'

The mini-league format means that Celtic can yet finish second, third or fourth in the group, while Aalborg's prospects of qualifying for the knockout phase are remote, dependent on winning their last two matches, and on beating Manchester United by four goals at Old Trafford. Strachan declared himself indifferent to the permutations.

'For those of us involved, the complexities don't matter,' he said. 'We just go to try to win the match. Of course, the figures could come to matter at some point in the game and cause us to change things, but that's something we'll deal with if and when it happens'.